Family Medicine Questions Family Practitioner

“What causes sudden dizziness and sickness?”

Last week I was sitting at my kitchen table and went in the living room to watch tv. When I sat down in the chair I all of a sudden felt hot, dizzy and when I got up I was sick. I laid down for the rest of the day, getting up to go to the bathroom, each time I also was sick. The next day I was ok and back to normal. What do you think it was or what happened? I am 75 years old and all the meds I take I have been taking for 15 years

Male | 75 years old
Complaint duration: 1 day
Medications: metoprolol tart 25mg twice daily, pravastatin 80 mg once daily, losartan 100 mg once daily and gemfibrozil 600 mg twice daily
Conditions: stated

2 Answers

FamilyMedicineFamilyPractitioner
Dizziness after standing up is known as orthostatic hypotension. When this happens, check your blood pressure and heart rate. Your blood pressure medication dose may need to be decreased. You may also be dehydrated. Either way, the doctor who prescribed your blood pressure medication needs to be informed.
All the best!

There are a lot of possibilities. The first is benign positional vertigo, which is an inner ear problem, it could be dehydration, electrolyte abnormality, a stroke, heart rhythm problem, or I've also seen people with spinal stenosis have "dizziness." So, there is a lot it could be, and you would need to be evaluated to find out. You may need your blood pressure meds adjusted. Check your bp. Our bp can change as our weight changes and we get older.
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